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University of South Carolina FD TFV AV ATT T T CHP 'll 'l C\C\A. Vo/. 98, No. 13 wivw.dailygamecock.com I IviJ_'ill^ IiU vJU A X L, / j tUU I Since 1908 IN THIS ISSUE m* NEWS Father sets self on fire at news of son’s death A Hollywood, Fla. man steals a van belonging to the Marine Corps, before setting himself on fire and suffering third-degree burns after learning of his son’s death in Iraq. Page 4 ♦VIEWPOINTS Black is back, but not good Gamecock staff editorial believes that a return to black jerseys for the football team is not necessarily a positive thing. Page 5 ♦ THE MIX ^Photography is back en vogue in Cola. Photography exhibit frames the human spirit, capturing its rough, uncommon exuberance in black and white. Also, on-campus fashion looks toward the fall season for a make over. Page 6 ♦ SPORTS Fall soccer season begins USC’s mens soccer team faces Virginia and the women play two games this weekend. Check out the preview. Page 9 WEATHER ♦ TODAY [ ♦ SAT. High 88 High 86 Low 70 Low 70 FOR EXTENDED FORECAST. SEE PAGE 2. INDEX Comics and Crossword.8 Classifieds.11 Horoscopes.8 Letters to the Editor.5 Online Poll.5 Police Report.2 RUSSELL HOUSE Marble Slab coming to campus By MICHAEL LaFORGIA THE GAMECOCK Marble Slab Creamery, the popular Houston-based ice cream company that brought a franchise to Gervais Street last spring, will open a shop on the second floor of the Russell House in September. Mike Schefferes, USC Dining Services general manager, said the creamery will replace Jazzman’s Cafe, the coffee stand across from Taco Bell and Pizza Hut in Gamecock Park, and should open by Sept. 20. “Marble Slab is definitely coming to town,” he said. “Marble Slab is definitely coming to town.” MIKE SCHEFFERES USC DINING GENERAL MANAGER SodexHo, USC’s campus food provider, and Marble Slab struck a deal this summer, Scheffres said. SodexHo brokered the same kind of deal with AFC, Inc., to bring sushi to the Grand Market Place last fall. Renovations began this week on the former coffee stand, which closed after sales suffered. While the Marble Slab will use what it can from the old coffee stand, shop owner Geri Fields, who also owns Marble Slabs in The Vista and off Garner’s Ferry Road, is paying for the renovations needed. The stand will feature one frozen slab, and Fields plans to add another in the near future. Students can expect a slightly limited menu, Fields said, featuring sundaes, shakes, smoothies, yogurt and a full line of cones. ♦ Please see MARBLE SLAB, page 4 JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK USC student Ross Allen serves ice cream at the Gervais Street Marble Slab. The popular eatery will open, a campus location next month. Businesses to rent third-floor spaces JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK Russell House Director Carmela Carr, right, shows the third floor blueprints to building manager Jeremy Coe. Officials plan to lease the space for business use. By WINNIE WINFORD THE GAMECOCK Students can expect some new businesses on the third floor of the Russell House this year. As construction is completed on that part of the union, proposals are being taken by businesses to lease that space. “We’re in the process of working with business affairs to identify potential tenants,” said Carmela Carr, director for the Russell House Student Union. “We want to put a business in there that students have expressed interest in having. We will look at what other unions across the country are doing, but our situation will be unique because our student community is unique.” So far the union has received a proposal from a financial institution to lease the area. Carr said more that one business may lease the space, depending on how big of an area they require. ♦ Please see LEASE, page 4 Students turn out as company uses union for poster profits By WINNIE WINFORD THE GAMECOCK While new businesses might soon open in the Russell House, the concept of making a profit at the university union is nothing new. Prolific Art Galleries, a Yonkers, N.Y.-based company specializing in poster sales, has sold posters out of the Russell House for the past few years. The company will wrap up another five-day sale Friday at 5 p.m. Prolific Art sales representative Harold Magidson said the company has not made as much money in the Russell House as last year but that they were still doing well. “I don’t know if it’s because the gas prices went up, but we are seeing the same numbers of customers,” he said. “The purchases are smaller.” Magidson said French art and fine art are popular items this year, while the alcohol oriented and girls-in-bikinis posters, perennial college student favorites, continue to be a big ♦ Please see POSTERS, page 4 use students Thomas Maluck, left, and Ginger DeLoanch, look through posters at the Russell House Thursday. Company officials said profits have been down this year. JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK Merged college close to naming new dean By LaDONNA BEEKER THE GAMECOCK The largest college at USC is one step closer to having a dean after university officials released the names of four finalists for the position, which include three out of-state candidates and one USC candidate. The candidates — John Skvoretz, uiiviuu ucdn iur USC’s College of Liberal Arts; Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, deputy dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin; Joseph Glover, associate provost for academic affairs at the University of Florida; and Joseph Pitt, head of the philosophy department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute — will visit the campus in September to meet with faculty members. The merger of the College of Liberal Arts and College of Science and Mathematics will produce the largest college on campus, holding approximately 8,200 students and 500 full-time faculty members. “I think the person coming, in respect, will be greater than the deans now because they will have an insight into the merger,” said Cleveland Sellers, director of the African American Studies Program, which will be part of the new college. With the university’s new technology, Sellers said he is interested to see how the candidates plan to get involved. “It is important the new dean understands what makes USC great,” Sellers said. In addition to being interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Skvoretz is a distinguished proiessor oi sociology. He joined the sociology department in 1975 and served as the department chairman for 10 years. Fitzpatrick has experience as chairwoman for various committees and departments, including communication arts and the investigatory committee on scientific misconduct. “The new dean needs to certainly be aware of the dimensions and versatility of the state of South Carolina because it will help him in shaping programs,” Sellers said. Before reaching his current position, Glover was professor and chairman of the mathematics department and associate dean for faculty affairs at Florida’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “It is important the new dean understands what makes USC great.” CLEVELAND SELLERS DIRECTOR OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM Meet the candidates Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin Joseph Glover, associate provost for academic affairs at the University of Florida John Skvoretz, interim dean for USC’s College of Liberal Acts Joseph Pitt, head of the philosophy department at Virginia Polytechnic ■ Institute “The new dean needs to relate to students,” first-year theatre student Alex Bergeron said. Pitt has traveled a long way within ♦ Please see DEANS, page 4 Sorensen urges economic effort ■ USC president exhorts teamwork among leaders By KEVIN FELLNER THE GAMECOCK USC President Andrew Sorensen roused a group of more than 100 business, political and university leaders Thursday by gently singing a verse of the children’s song “The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.” The song, which Sorensen first learned from children at the opening of USC’s Gateway Academy Child Development and Research Center, has become an anthem of his campaign for cooperation for economic development in Columbia and the rest of the state. Not to mention it’s an expected showstopper at meetings these days. Sorensen was addressing a meeting of Engenuity SC, a cooperative tied to the Columbia Chamber of Commerce that works to bring high-wage jobs to the Midlands. He said cooperation is imperative because it reduces what he calls parochial mentality, in which people are thinking of their own interests and not the good of the entire state. Sorensen used an example of cooperation by discussing a recent partnership among USC, the Medical University of South Carolina and several hospital systems for health sciences research. Sorensen said he was appalled after his arrival at USC in 2002 at the widespread parochial mentality, which he imitated by saying, “Forty-three years ago the president of the university insulted me, and I haven’t forgotten it.” He said he is instead looking to form a new mentality that would mend “these lingering wounds and suspicions.” Most of what the Engenuity SC crowd received was an update on the USC research campus, which is expecting a groundbreaking for its second phase in November. Sorensen told them he had plenty of demand for occupancy by private, research-based corporations but he needed help getting the project past obstacles like the Life Sciences Act, which has appropriated money for the research campus but js tied up in a court battle over its constitutionality. “We need the business ♦ Please see SORENSEN, page 4